Age: 37
Spouse’s/Partner's age: n/a
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 60,000
Annual gross income of spouse:n/a
Monthly take-home pay Around 3,000 per month. Varies with overtime.
Type of employment: PAYE worker in a large multinational company. Working 12 hour day/night shifts. Includes working 2*12 hour shifts every second weekend. 48 hours one week and 36 hours the second week. half of all shifts are night shifts. Some overtime which can be unpredictable. Almost certainly extremely limited overtime from the new year onwards.
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Saving
Rough estimate of value of home 80,000 (2 bed apartment bought in the boom for 185,000)
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 129,000
What interest rate are you paying? 1.75% (tracker mortgage from halifax bank). Approx 18 years left. Repayments are 680 per month. Also overpaying by 150 per month.
Other borrowings – none (don't have a car. Never drove)
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? n/a
Savings and investments:
Bank saving account 6,400. Credit union 13,000. Irish life investment 32,000.
Currently saving as follows. 30 per week into bank saving account. 70 per week into credit union. 420 per month into Irish life investment.
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes. Defined contribution. Currently has 68,000 euro invested. Includes contribution from myself, employer and AVC's which altogether totals almost 100 euro per week. Seems to preform quite poorly and I'm reluctant to put any extra money in.
Do you own any investment or other property? none
Ages of children: none
Life insurance: none.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
I've been working for this company for 16 years and there is a redundancy coming up in the new year with a good package on offer. After 16 years of shift work I'm getting pretty tired of it and am ready for a change. If I accept the redundancy I will get approx 105,000 lump sum depending on when exactly I'm let go. Along with my savings I would then have around 160,000. I never went to college after school and am giving very serious taught to it now. I'd like to study for a degree in computer science for 4 years in university or one of the institutes of technology.
In the next 12 months I need to spend around 8,000 to 10,000 doing up the apartment. This is pretty much unavoidable. I'm not sure what to do then. The money I'd have left over must see me through 4 years of college. I'd also have gas and electricity bills, food etc. Also travel to college would be around 45 euro a week.
Should I pay off the entire mortgage. If I do I might not have enough left to get me through college. If I keep large amounts of money in savings I would not be eligible for any grants or unemployment assistance during the summer. I may be able to get a summer job but this would not be guaranteed and I'd be competing with students half my age.
How should I save/invest my money if I do take redundancy to ensure I'm not left short. If I do go to college and am successful I'd start any new job on a much lower salary but this wouldn't concern me too much if I was mortgage free. I would need to buy a car then though and would have all the costs associated with it. I have absolutely no need of a car at present as I'm a 2 minute walk from work.
On the other hand my current job is a very very good job for someone with no qualifications. Its in the pharma sector but the future may be bleak, its hard to tell. The money on offer is very attractive but I'm having a hard time deciding what to do. I don't have to make my mind up about the offer until April so I have time to think. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.
Mick.
Spouse’s/Partner's age: n/a
Annual gross income from employment or profession: 60,000
Annual gross income of spouse:n/a
Monthly take-home pay Around 3,000 per month. Varies with overtime.
Type of employment: PAYE worker in a large multinational company. Working 12 hour day/night shifts. Includes working 2*12 hour shifts every second weekend. 48 hours one week and 36 hours the second week. half of all shifts are night shifts. Some overtime which can be unpredictable. Almost certainly extremely limited overtime from the new year onwards.
In general are you:
(a) spending more than you earn, or
(b) saving?
Saving
Rough estimate of value of home 80,000 (2 bed apartment bought in the boom for 185,000)
Amount outstanding on your mortgage: 129,000
What interest rate are you paying? 1.75% (tracker mortgage from halifax bank). Approx 18 years left. Repayments are 680 per month. Also overpaying by 150 per month.
Other borrowings – none (don't have a car. Never drove)
Do you pay off your full credit card balance each month? Yes
If not, what is the balance on your credit card? n/a
Savings and investments:
Bank saving account 6,400. Credit union 13,000. Irish life investment 32,000.
Currently saving as follows. 30 per week into bank saving account. 70 per week into credit union. 420 per month into Irish life investment.
Do you have a pension scheme? Yes. Defined contribution. Currently has 68,000 euro invested. Includes contribution from myself, employer and AVC's which altogether totals almost 100 euro per week. Seems to preform quite poorly and I'm reluctant to put any extra money in.
Do you own any investment or other property? none
Ages of children: none
Life insurance: none.
What specific question do you have or what issues are of concern to you?
I've been working for this company for 16 years and there is a redundancy coming up in the new year with a good package on offer. After 16 years of shift work I'm getting pretty tired of it and am ready for a change. If I accept the redundancy I will get approx 105,000 lump sum depending on when exactly I'm let go. Along with my savings I would then have around 160,000. I never went to college after school and am giving very serious taught to it now. I'd like to study for a degree in computer science for 4 years in university or one of the institutes of technology.
In the next 12 months I need to spend around 8,000 to 10,000 doing up the apartment. This is pretty much unavoidable. I'm not sure what to do then. The money I'd have left over must see me through 4 years of college. I'd also have gas and electricity bills, food etc. Also travel to college would be around 45 euro a week.
Should I pay off the entire mortgage. If I do I might not have enough left to get me through college. If I keep large amounts of money in savings I would not be eligible for any grants or unemployment assistance during the summer. I may be able to get a summer job but this would not be guaranteed and I'd be competing with students half my age.
How should I save/invest my money if I do take redundancy to ensure I'm not left short. If I do go to college and am successful I'd start any new job on a much lower salary but this wouldn't concern me too much if I was mortgage free. I would need to buy a car then though and would have all the costs associated with it. I have absolutely no need of a car at present as I'm a 2 minute walk from work.
On the other hand my current job is a very very good job for someone with no qualifications. Its in the pharma sector but the future may be bleak, its hard to tell. The money on offer is very attractive but I'm having a hard time deciding what to do. I don't have to make my mind up about the offer until April so I have time to think. Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome.
Mick.